System and method for selectively updating pointers used in conditionally executed load/store with update instructions

Abstract

A processor is disclosed including an instruction unit and an execution unit. The instruction unit fetches and decodes a conditional execution instruction and one or more target instructions. The conditional execution instruction specifies the target instructions, a register, and a register condition, and includes pointer update information. The execution unit saves a result of each of the target instructions dependent upon the existence of the specified register condition during execution of the conditional execution instruction. When a target instruction is an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, the execution unit updates the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information. A system (e.g., a computer system) is described including the processor coupled to a memory system. A method is disclosed for conditionally executing at least one instruction, including inputting the conditional execution instruction and the target instructions.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates generally to data processing, and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for conditionally executing software program instructions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Many modern processors employ a technique called pipelining to execute more software program instructions (instructions) per unit of time. In general, processor execution of an instruction involves fetching the instruction (e.g., from a memory system), decoding the instruction, obtaining needed operands, using the operands to perform an operation specified by the instruction, and saving a result. In a pipelined processor, the various steps of instruction execution are performed by independent units called pipeline stages. In the pipeline stages, corresponding steps of instruction execution are performed on different instructions independently, and intermediate results are passed to successive stages. By permitting the processor to overlap the executions of multiple instructions, pipelining allows the processor to execute more instructions per unit of time.

[0003] In practice, instructions are often interdependent, and these dependencies often result in “pipeline hazards.” Pipeline hazards result in stalls that prevent instructions from continually entering a pipeline at a maximum possible rate. The resulting delays in pipeline flow are commonly called “bubbles.” The detection and avoidance of hazards presents a formidable challenge to designers of pipeline processors, and hardware solutions can be considerably complex.

[0004] There are three general types of pipeline hazards: structural hazards, data hazards, and control hazards. A structural hazard occurs when instructions in a pipeline require the same hardware resource at the same time (e.g., access to a memory unit or a register file, use of a bus, etc.). In this situation, execution of one of the instructions must be delayed while the other instruction uses the resource.

[0005] A “data dependency” is said to exist between two instructions when one of the instructions requires a value produced by the other. A data hazard occurs in a pipeline when a first instruction in the pipeline requires a value produced by a second instruction in the pipeline, and the value is not yet available. In this situation, the pipeline is typically stalled until the operation specified by the second instruction is carried out and the result is produced.

[0006] In general, a “scalar” processor issues instructions for execution one at a time, and a “superscalar” processor is capable of issuing multiple instructions for execution at the same time. A pipelined scalar processor concurrently executes multiple instructions in different pipeline stages; the executions of the multiple instructions are overlapped as described above. A pipelined superscalar processor, on the other hand, concurrently executes multiple instructions in different pipeline stages, and is also capable of concurrently executing multiple instructions in the same pipeline stage. Pipeline hazards typically have greater negative impacts on performances of pipelined superscalar processors than on performances of pipelined scalar processors. Examples of pipelined superscalar processors include the popular Intel® Pentium® processors (Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif.) and IBM® PowerPC® processors (IBM Corporation, White Plains, N.Y.).

[0007] Conditional branch/jump instructions are commonly used in software programs (i.e., code) to effectuate changes in control flow. A change in control flow is necessary to execute one or more instructions dependent on a condition. Typical conditional branch/jump instructions include “branch if equal,” “jump if not equal,” “branch if greater than,” etc.

[0008] A “control dependency” is said to exist between a non-branch/jump instruction and one or more preceding branch/jump instructions that determine whether the non-branch/jump instruction is executed. A control hazard occurs in a pipeline when a next instruction to be executed is unknown, typically as a result of a conditional branch/jump instruction. When a conditional branch/jump instruction occurs, the correct one of multiple possible execution paths cannot be known with certainty until the condition is evaluated. Any incorrect prediction typically results in the need to purge partially processed instructions along an incorrect path from a pipeline, and refill the pipeline with instructions along the correct path.

[0009] A software technique called “predication” provides an alternate method for conditionally executing instructions. Predication may be advantageously used to eliminate branch instructions from code, effectively converting control dependencies to data dependencies. If the resulting data dependencies are less constraining than the control dependencies that would otherwise exist, instruction execution performance of a pipelined processor may be substantially improved.

[0010] In predicated execution, the results of one or more instructions are qualified dependent upon a value of a preceding predicate. The predicate typically has a value of “true” (e.g., binary ‘1’) or “false” (e.g., binary ‘0’). If the qualifying predicate is true, the results of the one or more subsequent instructions are saved (i.e., used to update a state of the processor). On the other hand, if the qualifying predicate is false, the results of the one or more instructions are not saved (i.e., are discarded).

[0011] In some known processors, values of qualifying predicates are stored in dedicated predicate registers. In some of these processors, different predicate registers may be assigned (e.g., by a compiler) to instructions along each of multiple possible execution paths. Predicated execution may involve executing instructions along all possible execution paths of a conditional branch/jump instruction, and saving the results of only those instructions along the correct execution path. For example, assume a conditional branch/jump instruction has two possible execution paths. A first predicate register may be assigned to instructions along one of the two possible execution paths, and a second predicate register may be assigned to instructions along the second execution path. The processor attempts to execute instructions along both paths in parallel. When the processor determines the values of the predicate registers, results of instructions along the correct execution path are saved, and the results of instructions along the incorrect execution path are discarded.

[0012] The above method of predicated execution involves associating instructions with predicate registers (i.e., “tagging” instructions along the possible execution paths with an associated predicate register). This tagging is typically performed by a compiler, and requires space (e.g., fields) in instruction formats to specify associated predicate registers. This presents a problem in reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors typified by fixed-length and densely-packed instruction formats.

[0013] Another example of conditional execution involves the TMS320C6x processor family (Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, Tex.). In the 'C6x processor family, all instructions are conditional. Multiple bits of a field in each instruction are allocated for specifying a condition. If no condition is specified, the instruction is executed. If an instruction specifies a condition, and the condition is true, the instruction is executed. On the other hand, if the specified condition is false, the instruction is not executed. This form of conditional execution also presents a problem in RISC processors in that multiple bits are allocated in fixed-length and densely-packed instruction formats.

[0014] Certain types of instructions, namely “load with update” instructions and “store with update” instructions, collectively referred to as “load/store with update” instructions, are particularly useful in accessing values stored sequentially in a memory system coupled to a processor (e.g., array values). Such load/store with update instructions typically use a processor register to store an address (e.g., a pointer). The address (i.e., the pointer) is first used to access a memory location in the memory system. A value (e.g., an index value) is then added to the contents of the register (i.e., the pointer is updated) such that the contents of the register is an address of a next sequential value (e.g., array value) stored in the memory system. In general, load/store with update instructions typically eliminate additional instructions otherwise required to update pointers. In many applications, the use of load/store with update instructions results in smaller code size and faster code execution.

[0015] When a load/store with update instruction is conditionally executed, a value of a pointer used in the conditionally executed instruction is typically updated only when the specified condition is true. A problem arises in that following execution of a conditionally executed load/store with update instruction, update of the pointer is uncertain, thus the value of the pointer is uncertain. For this reason, load/store with update instructions are typically not conditionally executed despite the fact that they might otherwise be useful.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] A processor is disclosed including an instruction unit and an execution unit. The instruction unit is configured to fetch and decode a conditional execution instruction and one or more target instructions. The conditional execution instruction specifies the one or more target instructions, a register of the processor, and a condition within the register, and includes pointer update information. The execution unit is coupled to the instruction unit and configured to save a result of each of the one or more target instructions dependent upon the existence of the specified condition within the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction. In the event the one or more target instructions include an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, the execution unit is configured to update the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information.

[0017] A system (e.g., a computer system) is described including the processor described above coupled to a memory system. The memory system includes the conditional execution instruction described above and the one or more target instructions.

[0018] A method is disclosed for conditionally executing one or more instructions, including inputting the conditional execution instruction and the one or more target instructions. In the event the one or more target instructions include an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, the pointer is updated dependent upon the pointer update information. A result of each of the at least one target instruction is saved dependent upon the specified condition within the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify similar elements, and in which:

[0020] FIG. 1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a data processing system including a processor coupled to a memory system, wherein the memory system includes software program instructions (i.e., “code”), and wherein the code includes a conditional execution instruction and a code block including one or more instructions to be conditionally executed;

[0021] FIG. 2 is a diagram of one embodiment of the conditional execution instruction of FIG. 1;

[0022] FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an arrangement of the conditional execution instruction of FIG. 1 and instructions of the code block of FIG. 1 in the code of FIG. 1;

[0023] FIG. 4 is a diagram of one embodiment of the processor of FIG. 1, wherein the processor includes an instruction unit, a load/store unit, an execution unit, a register file, and a pipeline control unit;

[0024] FIG. 5 is a diagram of one embodiment of the register file of FIG. 4, wherein the register file includes multiple general purpose registers, a hardware flag register, and a static hardware flag register;

[0025] FIG. 6A is a diagram of one embodiment of the hardware flag register of FIG. 5;

[0026] FIG. 6B is a diagram of one embodiment of the static hardware flag register of FIG. 5;

[0027] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an instruction execution pipeline implemented within the processor of FIG. 4 by the pipeline control unit of FIG. 4; and

[0028] FIGS. 8A and 8B in combination form a flow chart of one embodiment of a method for conditionally executing one or more instructions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0029] In the following disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known elements have been illustrated in schematic or block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. Additionally, some details, such as details concerning network communications, electromagnetic signaling techniques, and the like, have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not considered necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention, and are considered to be within the understanding of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. It is further noted that all functions described herein may be performed in either hardware or software, or a combination thereof, unless indicated otherwise. Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, components may be referred to by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name, but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical or communicative connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devices and connections.

[0030] FIG. 1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a data processing system 100 including a processor 102 coupled to a memory system 104. The processor 102 executes instructions of a predefined instruction set. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the memory system 104 includes a software program (i.e., code) 106 including instructions from the instruction set. In general, the processor 102 fetches and executes instructions stored in the memory system 104. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the code 106 includes a conditional execution instruction 108 of the instruction set, and a code block 110 specified by the conditional execution instruction 108. In general, the code block 110 includes one or more instructions selected from the instruction set. The conditional execution instruction 108 also specifies a condition that determines whether execution results of the one or more instructions of the code block 110 are saved in the processor 102 and/or the memory system 104.

[0031] The memory system 104 may include, for example, volatile memory structures (e.g., dynamic random access memory structures, static random access memory structures, etc.) and/or non-volatile memory structures (read only memory structures, electrically erasable programmable read only memory structures, flash memory structures, etc.).

[0032] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, during execution of the code 106, the processor 102 fetches the conditional execution instruction 108 from the memory system 104 and executes the conditional execution instruction 108. As described in more detail below, the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies the code block 110 (e.g., a number of instructions making up the code block 110) and a condition. During execution of the conditional execution instruction 108, the processor 102 determines the code block I 10 and the condition, and evaluates the condition to determine if the condition exists in the processor 102. The processor 102 also fetches the instructions of the code block 110 from the memory system 104, and executes each of the instructions of the code block 110, producing corresponding execution results within the processor 102. The execution results of the instructions of the code block 110 are saved in the processor 102 and/or the memory system 104 dependent upon the existence of the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 in the processor 102. In other words, the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 qualifies the writeback of the execution results of the instructions of the code block 110. The instructions of the code block 110 may otherwise traverse the pipeline normally. The results of the instructions of the code block 110 are used to change a state of the processor 102 and/or the memory system 104 only if the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 exists in the processor 102.

[0033] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the processor 102 implements a load-store architecture. That is, the instruction set includes load instructions used to transfer data from the memory system 104 to registers of the processor 102, and store instructions used to transfer data from the registers of the processor 102 to the memory system 104. Instructions other than the load and store instructions specify register operands, and register-to-register operations. In this manner, the register-to-register operations are decoupled from accesses to the memory system 104.

[0034] As indicated in FIG. 1, the processor 102 receives a CLOCK signal and executes instructions dependent upon the CLOCK signal. The data processing system 100 may include a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit 112 that generates the CLOCK signal. The data processing system 100 may also include a direct memory access (DMA) circuit 114 for accessing the memory system 104 substantially independent of the processor 102. The data processing system 100 may also include bus interface units (BIUs) 118A and 118B for coupling to external buses, and/or peripheral interface units (PIUs) 120A and 120B for coupling to external peripheral devices. An interface unit (IU) 116 may form an interface between the bus interfaces units (BIUs) 118A and 11 8B and/or the peripheral interface units (PIUs) 120A and 120B, the processor 102, and the DMA circuit 114. The data processing system 100 may also include a JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) circuit 122 including an IEEE Standard 1149.1 compatible boundary scan access port for circuit-level testing of the processor 102. The processor 102 may also receive and respond to external interrupt signals (i.e., interrupts) as indicted in FIG. 1.

[0035] FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the conditional execution instruction 108 and the one or more instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are fixed-length instructions (e.g., 16-bit instructions), and the instructions of the code block 110 immediately follow the conditional execution instruction 108 in the code 106 of FIG. 1. It is noted that other embodiments of the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 are possible and contemplated.

[0036] In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the conditional execution instruction 108 includes a block size specification field 200, a select bit 202, a condition bit 204, a pointer update bit 206, a condition specification field 208, and a root encoding field 210. The block size specification field 200 is used to store a value indicating a number of instructions immediately following the conditional execution instruction 108 and making up the code block 110 of FIG. 1. The block size specification field 200 may be, for example, a 3-bit field specifying a code block including from 1 (block size specification field=“000”) to 8 (block size specification field=“111”) instructions immediately following the conditional execution instruction 108. Larger code blocks 110 could be specified by increasing the size or number of bits in the block size specification field 200.

[0037] As described in more detail below, the processor 102 of FIG. 1 includes multiple flag registers and multiple general purpose registers. A value of the select bit 202 indicates whether the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register or in a general purpose register. For example, if the select bit 202 is a ‘0,’ the select bit 202 may indicate that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register. On the other hand, if the select bit 202 is a ‘1,’ the select bit 202 may indicate that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register.

[0038] In general, the condition bit 204 specifies a value used to qualify the execution results of the instructions in the code block 110. For example, if the condition bit 204 is a ‘0,’ the execution results of the instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 may be qualified (i.e., stored) only if a value stored in a specified register of the processor 102 of FIG. 1 is equal to ‘0’ during execution of the conditional execution instruction 108. On the other hand, if the condition bit 204 is a ‘1,’ the execution results of the instructions of the code block 110 may be stored only if the value stored in the specified register is not equal to ‘0’.

[0039] For example, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register and the condition bit 204 is a ‘0,’ the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 may be that the value of a specified flag bit in a specified flag register is ‘0.’ Similarly, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register and the condition bit 204 is a ‘0,’ the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 may be that the value stored in the specified general purpose register is ‘0.’

[0040] In a similar manner, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register and the condition bit 204 is a ‘1,’ the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 may be that the value of the specified flag bit in the specified flag register is ‘1.’ Similarly, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register and the condition bit 204 is a ‘1,’ the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 may be that the value stored in the specified general purpose register is non-zero, or not equal to ‘0’.

[0041] The processor 102 of FIG. 1 is configured to execute load/store with update instructions described above. In some load/store with update instructions, the contents of a general purpose register of the processor 102 is used as an address (i.e., a pointer) to access a memory location in the memory system 104 of FIG. 1. A value (e.g., an index value) is then added to the contents of the general purpose register (i.e., the pointer is updated) such that the contents of the general purpose register is an address of a next sequential value in the memory system 104.

[0042] For example, a set of instructions executable by the processor 102 of FIG. 1 may include a load with update instruction ‘ldu’ having the following syntax: ldu rX, rY, n. In a first operation specified by the ‘ldu’ instruction, the contents of a first general purpose register ‘rY’ of the processor 102 is used as an address (i.e., a pointer) to access a memory location in the memory system 104 of FIG. 1, and a value stored in the memory location is saved in a second general purpose register ‘rX’ of the processor 102. In a second operation specified by the ‘ldu’ instruction, the integer value ‘n’ is added to the contents of the register ‘rY’, and the result is stored in the register ‘rY’ such that the contents of the register ‘rY’ is an address of a next sequential value in the memory system 104 (i.e., the pointer is updated).

[0043] Other load/store with update instructions exist in the set of instructions executable by the processor 102 of FIG. 1. In general, the load/store with update instructions are distinguished from other load/store instructions in that in addition to loading a value from a memory location into a general purpose register of the processor 102, or storing a value in a general purpose register to a memory location, the load/store with update instructions also modify an address (i.e., update a pointer) stored in a separate general purpose register of the processor 102.

[0044] In general, the pointer update bit 206 indicates whether general purpose registers of the processor 102 used to store memory addresses (i.e., pointers) are to be updated in the event the code block 110 of FIG. 1 includes one or more load/store instructions. For example, when the update bit 206 has a value of ‘0’, the pointer update bit 206 may specify that any pointers in any load/store instructions of the code block 110 are to be updated only if the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is true. In this situation, when the pointer update bit 206 has a value of ‘0’ and the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 is false, the pointers in any load/store instructions of the code block 110 are not updated.

[0045] When the pointer update bit 206 has a value of ‘1’, the pointer update bit 206 may specify that any pointers in any load/store instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are to be updated unconditionally (e.g., independent of the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1). In this situation, if the pointer update bit 206 has a value of ‘1’, the pointers in any load/store instructions of the code block 110 are updated regardless of whether the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is true or false.

[0046] In general, the condition specification field 208 specifies either a particular flag bit in a particular flag register, or a particular one of the multiple general purpose registers of the processor 102. For example, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register, the condition specification field 208 specifies a particular one of the multiple flag registers of the processor 102 of FIG. 1, and a particular one of several flag bits in the specified flag register. When the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register, the condition specification field 208 specifies a particular one of the multiple general purpose registers of the processor 102 of FIG. 1.

[0047] As described in more detail below, the embodiment of the processor 102 of FIG. 1 includes two flag registers: a hardware flag register ‘HWFLAG’ and a static hardware flag register ‘SHWFLAG.’ Both the HWFLAG and the SHWFLAG registers store the following flag bits:

[0048] v=32-Bit Overflow Flag. Cleared (i.e., ‘0’) when a sign of a result of a twos-complement addition is the same as signs of 32-bit operands (where both operands have the same sign); set (i.e., ‘1’) when the sign of the result differs from the signs of the 32-bit operands.

[0049] gv=Guard Register 40-Bit Overflow Flag. (Same as the ‘v’ flag bit described above, but for 40-bit operands.)

[0050] sv=Sticky Overflow Flag. (Same as the ‘v’ flag bit described above, but once set, can only be cleared through software by writing a ‘0’ to the ‘sv’ bit.)

[0051] gsv=Guard Register Sticky Overflow Flag. (Same as the ‘gv’ flag bit described above, but once set, can only be cleared through software by writing a ‘0’ to the ‘gsv’ bit.)

[0052] c=Carry Flag. Set when a carry occurs during a twos-complement addition for 16-bit operands; cleared when no carry occurs.

[0053] ge=Greater Than Or Equal To Flag. Set when a result is greater than or equal to zero; cleared when the result is not greater than or equal to zero.

[0054] gt=Greater Than Flag. Set when a result is greater than zero; cleared when the result is not greater than zero.

[0055] z=Equal to Zero Flag. Set when a result is equal to zero; cleared when the result is not equal to zero.

[0056] Table 1 below list exemplary encodings of the condition specification field 208 valid when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register: 1 TABLE 1 Exemplary Encodings of the Condition specification field 208 Valid When the Select Bit 202 Indicates the Condition Is Stored in a Flag Register. Cond. Spec. Specified Specified Field 206 Flag Flag Value Register Bit 0000 HWFLAG v 0001 HWFLAG gv 0010 HWFLAG sv 0011 HWFLAG gsv 0100 HWFLAG c 0101 HWFLAG ge 0110 HWFLAG gt 0111 HWFLAG z 1000 SHWFLAG v 1001 SHWFLAG gv 1010 SHWFLAG sv 1011 SHWFLAG gsv 1100 SHWFLAG c 1101 SHWFLAG ge 1110 SHWFLAG gt 1111 SHWFLAG z

[0057] For example, referring to Table 1 above, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a flag register, a ‘0101’ encoding of the condition specification field 208 of the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies the hardware flag register and the ‘ge’ flag bit of the hardware flag register. If the condition bit 204 indicates the specified value must be a ‘1,’ and the ‘ge’ flag bit of the hardware flag register is ‘1’ during execution of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution result of the instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are saved. On the other hand, if the ‘ge’ flag bit of the hardware flag register is ‘0’ during execution of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution results of the instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are not saved (i.e., the exucution results are discarded.)

[0058] As described in more detail below, the embodiment of the processor 102 of FIG. 1 also includes 16 general purpose registers (GPRs) numbered ‘0’ through ‘15.’ Table 2 below lists exemplary encodings of the condition specification field 208 valid when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register: 2 TABLE 2 Exemplary Encodings of the Condition specification field 208 Valid When the Select Bit 202 Indicates the Condition Is Stored in a General Purpose Register. Cond. Spec. Field 206 Specified Value GPR 0000 GPR 0 0001 GPR 1 0010 GPR 2 0011 GPR 3 0100 GPR 4 0101 GPR 5 0110 GPR 6 0111 GPR 7 1000 GPR 8 1001 GPR 9 1010 GPR 10 1011 GPR 11 1100 GPR 12 1101 GPR 13 1110 GPR 14 1111 GPR 15

[0059] For example, referring to Table 2 above, when the select bit 202 indicates that the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is stored in a general purpose register, a ‘1011’ encoding of the condition specification field 208 of the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies the GPR 11 register of the processor 102 of FIG. 1. If the condition bit 204 indicates the specified value must be a ‘1,’ and the GPR 11 register does not contain a ‘0’ during execution of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution results of the instruction of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are saved. On the other hand, if the GPR 11 register contains a ‘0’ during execution of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution results of the instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are not saved (i.e., the execution results are discarded).

[0060] The root encoding field 210 identifies an operation code (opcode) of the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 2. In other embodiments of the conditional execution instruction 108, the root encoding field 210 may also help define the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108. For example, the root encoding field 210 may also specify a particular group of registers within the processor 102 of FIG. 1 and/or a particular register within the processor 102.

[0061] FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an arrangement of the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 and instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1 in the code 106 of FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the code block 110 includes n instructions. The conditional execution instruction 108 is instruction number m in the code 106, and the n instructions of the code block 110 includes instructions 300A, 300B, and 300C. The instruction 300A immediately follows the conditional execution instruction 108 in the code 106, and is instruction number m+1 of the code 106. The instruction 300B immediately follows the instruction 300A in the code 106, and is instruction number m+2 of the code 106. The instruction 300C is instruction number m+n of the code 106, and is the nth (i.e., last) instruction of the code block 110. The value of n would be set in the block size specification filed 200 of the conditional execution instruction 108 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0062] FIG. 4 is a diagram of one embodiment of the processor 102 of FIG. 1. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the processor 102 includes an instruction unit 400, a load/store unit 402, an execution unit 404, a register file 406, and a pipeline control unit 408 coupled to one another as shown in FIG. 4. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the processor 102 is a pipelined superscalar processor. That is, the processor 102 implements an instruction execution pipeline including multiple pipeline stages, concurrently executes multiple instructions in different pipeline stages, and is also capable of concurrently executing multiple instructions in the same pipeline stage.

[0063] In general, the instruction unit 400 fetches instructions from the memory system 104 of FIG. 1 and decodes the instructions, thereby producing decoded instructions. The load/store unit 402 is used to transfer data between the processor 102 and the memory system 104 as described above. The execution unit 404 is used to perform operations specified by instructions (and corresponding decoded instructions). The register file 406 includes multiple registers of the processor 102, and is described in more detail below. The pipeline control unit 408 implements the instruction execution pipeline described in more detail below.

[0064] FIG. 5 is a diagram of one embodiment of the register file 406 of FIG. 4, wherein the register file 406 includes sixteen 16-bit general purpose registers 500 numbered 0 through 15, the hardware flag register described above and labeled 502 in FIG. 5, and the static hardware flag register described above and labeled 504 in FIG. 5.

[0065] FIG. 6A is a diagram of one embodiment of the hardware flag register 502 of FIG. 5. In the embodiment of FIG. 6A, the hardware flag register 502 includes the flag bits ‘v’, ‘gv’, ‘sv’, ‘gsv’, ‘c’, ‘ge’, ‘gt’, and ‘z’ described above. The hardware flag register 502 is updated during instruction execution such that the flag bits in the hardware flag register 502 reflect a state or condition of the processor 102 of FIGS. 1 and 4 resulting from instruction execution.

[0066] FIG. 6B is a diagram of one embodiment of the static hardware flag register 504 of FIG. 5. In the embodiment of FIG. 6B, the static hardware flag register 504 also includes the flag bits ‘v’, ‘gv’, ‘sv’,‘gsv’, ‘c’, ‘ge’, ‘gt’, and ‘z’ described above. Unlike the hardware flag register 502 of FIGS. 5 and 6A, and as will be described in detail below, the static hardware flag register 504 is updated only when a conditional execution instruction in the code 106 of FIG. 1 (e.g., the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIGS. 1 and 3) specifies the hardware flag register 502 of FIGS. 5 and 6A.

[0067] As defined hereinbelow, a “hardware flag register” is a flag register that is updated during instruction execution such that flag bits in the flag register reflect a state or condition of a processor resulting from instruction execution. A “static hardware flag register” is a flag register that is updated from a hardware flag register, and used to store persistent values of the flag bits of the hardware flag register.

[0068] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the instruction execution pipeline implemented within the processor 102 of FIG. 4 by the pipeline control unit 408 of FIG. 4. The instruction execution pipeline (pipeline) allows overlapped execution of multiple instructions. In the example of FIG. 7, the pipeline includes 8 stages: a fetch/decode (FD) stage, a grouping (GR) stage, an operand read (RD) stage, an address generation (AG) stage, a memory access 0 (M0) stage, a memory access 1 (M1) stage, an execution (EX) stage, and a write back (WB) stage.

[0069] The processor 102 of FIG. 4 uses the CLOCK signal to generate an internal clock signal. As indicated in FIG. 7, operations in each of the 8 pipeline stages are completed during a single cycle of the internal clock signal.

[0070] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, the instruction unit 400 of FIG. 4 fetches several instructions (e.g., 6 instructions) from the memory system 104 of FIG. 1 during the fetch/decode (FD) pipeline stage of FIG. 7, decodes the instructions, and provides the decoded instructions to the pipeline control unit 408.

[0071] During the grouping (GR) stage, the pipeline control unit 408 checks the multiple decoded instructions for grouping and dependency rules, and passes one or more of the decoded instructions conforming to the grouping and dependency rules on to the read operand (RD) stage as a group. During the read operand (RD) stage, the pipeline control unit 408 obtains any operand values, and/or values needed for operand address generation, for the group of decoded instructions from the register file 406.

[0072] During the address generation (AG) stage, the pipeline control unit 408 provides any values needed for operand address generation to the load/store unit 402, and the load/store unit 402 generates internal addresses of any operands located in the memory system 104 of FIG. 1. During the memory address 0 (M0) stage, the load/store unit 402 translates the internal addresses to external memory addresses used within the memory system 104 of FIG. 1.

[0073] During the memory address 1 (M1) stage, the load/store unit 402 uses the external memory addresses to obtain any operands located in the memory system 104 of FIG. 1. During the execution (EX) stage, the execution unit 404 uses the operands to perform operations specified by the one or more instructions of the group. During the write back (WB) stage, valid results (including qualified results) are stored in registers of the register file 406.

[0074] During the write back (WB) stage, valid results (including qualified results) of store instructions, used to store data in the memory system 104 of FIG. 1 as described above, are provided to the load/store unit 402. Such store instructions are typically used to copy values stored in registers of the register file 406 to memory locations of the memory system 104.

[0075] Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7, the conditional execution instruction 108 is typically one of several instructions (e.g., 6 instructions) fetched from the memory system 104 by the instruction unit 400 and decoded during the fetch/decode (FD) stage. During the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108, the register specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 (e.g., the flag register 502 or one of the general purpose registers 500) is accessed. The execution unit 404 may test the specified register for the specified condition, and provide a comparison result to the pipeline control unit 408.

[0076] As described above, if the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies the hardware flag register 502, the values of the flag bits in the hardware flag register 502 are copied to the corresponding flag bits in the static hardware flag register 504. For example, if the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies the hardware flag register 502, the pipeline control unit 408 may produce a signal that causes the values of the flag bits in the hardware flag register to be copied to the corresponding flag bits in the static hardware flag register 504.

[0077] During the execution (EX) stage of each of the instructions of the code block 110, the pipeline control unit 408 may provide a first signal and a second signal to the execution unit 404. The first signal may be indicative of the value of the pointer update bit 206 of the conditional execution instruction 108 specifying the code block 110, and the second signal may be indicative of whether the specified condition existed in the specified register during the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108.

[0078] During the execution (EX) stage of a load/store with update instruction of the code block 110, if the first signal indicates that the pointer update bit 206 of the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies that the pointer used in the load/store instruction is to be updated unconditionally, that is independent of the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution unit 404 updates the pointer used in the load/store instruction.

[0079] On the other hand, if the first signal indicates that the pointer update bit 206 of the conditional execution instruction 108 specifies that the pointer used in the load/store instruction is to be updated only if the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 is true, the execution unit 404 updates the pointer used in the load/store instruction dependent upon the second signal. If the second signal indicates the specified condition existed in the specified register during the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution unit 404 updates the pointer used in the load/store instruction. On the other hand, if the second signal indicates that the specified condition did not exist in the specified register during the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution unit 404 does not update the pointer used in the load/store instruction.

[0080] During the write back (WB) stage of each of the instructions of the code block 110, the execution unit 404 saves results of the instructions of the code block 110 dependent upon the second signal provided by the pipeline control unit 408. For example, during the execution (EX) stage of a particular one of the instructions of the code block 110, if the second signal received from the pipeline control unit 408 indicates the specified condition existed in the specified register during the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution unit 404 provides the results of the instruction to the register file 406. On the other hand, if the second signal indicates the specified condition did not exist in the specified register during the execution (EX) stage of the conditional execution instruction 108, the execution unit 404 does not provide the results of the instruction to the register file 406.

[0081] In the embodiment of FIG. 7, if the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is true, the results of the instructions making up the code block 110 of FIG. 1 are qualified, and the results are written to the register file 406 of FIGS. 4-5 during the corresponding execution (EX) stages. If the specified condition is not true, the results of the instructions of the code block 110 are not qualified, and are not written to the register file 406 during the corresponding execution stages (i.e., are ignored).

[0082] FIGS. 8A and 8B in combination form a flow chart of one embodiment of a method 800 for conditionally executing one or more instructions (e.g., instructions of the code block 110 of FIG. 1). The method 800 may be embodied within the processor 102 of FIGS. 1 and 4. During an operation 802 of the method 800, a conditional execution instruction (e.g., the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1) and the one or more instructions to be conditionally executed (i.e., “target instructions”) are input (i.e., fetched or received). The conditional execution instruction specifies the one or more target instructions and a condition within a specified register (e.g., a value of a bit in a flag register or a value stored in a general purpose register), and also includes a pointer update bit (e.g., the pointer update bit 206 of FIG. 2).

[0083] During a decision operation 804, a determination is made as to whether a given target instruction is a load/store with update instruction. In the event the target instruction is a load/store with update instruction, a decision operation 806 is performed. On the other hand, if the target instruction is not a load/store with update instruction, an operation 812 is performed.

[0084] During the decision operation 806, a determination is made as to whether the pointer update bit has a value of ‘1’(e.g., specifies that the pointer used in the load/store instruction is to be updated unconditionally, that is independent of the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1). In the event the pointer update bit has a value of ‘1’, an operation 808 is performed. On the other hand, if the pointer update bit does not have a value of ‘1’ (i.e., has a value of ‘0’), an operation 810 is performed next.

[0085] During the operation 808, the pointer used in the load/store instruction is updated regardless of whether the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction 108 of FIG. 1 is true or false. The operation 812 is performed after the operation 808.

[0086] During the operation 810, the pointer used in the load/store instruction is updated only if the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction is true. If the condition specified by the conditional execution instruction is false, the pointer is not updated. The operation 812 is performed after the operation 808.

[0087] During the operation 812, a result of each of the one or more target instructions is saved dependent upon whether the specified condition exists in the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction.

[0088] The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.

Claims

1. A processor, comprising:

an instruction unit configured to fetch and decode a conditional execution instruction and at least one target instruction, wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the at least one target instruction, a specified register of the processor, and a specified condition within the specified register, and wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises pointer update information;

an execution unit operably coupled to the instruction unit and configured to save a result of each of the at least one target instruction dependent upon the existence of the specified condition within the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction; and

wherein in the event the at least one target instruction comprises an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, the execution unit is configured to update the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information.

2. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the pointer update information specifies that the pointer is to be updated either unconditionally or dependent upon the specified condition.

3. The processor as recited in claim 2, wherein in the event the pointer update information specifies the pointer is to be updated unconditionally, the execution unit is configured to update the pointer independent of the specified condition.

4. The processor as recited in claim 2, wherein in the event the pointer update information specifies the pointer is to be updated dependent upon the specified condition, the execution unit is configured to update the pointer dependent upon the specified condition.

5. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the instruction involving the pointer subject to update specifies the pointer is to be modified and stored in a register of the processor.

6. The processor as recited in claim 5, wherein the register of the processor is a general purpose register.

7. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the instruction involving the pointer subject to update comprises a load with update instruction or a store with update instruction.

8. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditional execution instruction precedes the at least one target instruction in a software program.

9. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditional execution instruction is a fixed-length instruction.

10. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one target instruction comprises a code block including a plurality of consecutive instructions, and wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the code block.

11. The processor as recited in claim 9, wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises a field specifying the code block.

12. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises a field specifying the specified register.

13. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises at least one bit position specifying the condition within the specified register.

14. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies a flag register or a general purpose register within the processor.

15. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the execution unit is configured to perform an operation specified by each of the at least one target instruction, thereby producing the result of the at least one target instruction.

16. The processor as recited in claim 1, wherein the execution unit is configured to save the result only in the event the specified condition exists in the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction.

17. A system, comprising:

a memory system and a processor coupled to the memory system;

wherein the memory system comprises a conditional execution instruction and at least one target instruction, and wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the at least one target instruction, a specified register of the processor, and a specified condition within the specified register, and wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises pointer update information;

wherein the processor comprises:

an instruction unit configured to fetch instructions from the memory system and to and decode the conditional execution instruction and the least one target instruction;

an execution unit operably coupled to the instruction unit and configured to save a result of each of the at least one target instruction dependent upon the existence of the specified condition in the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction; and

wherein in the event the at least one target instruction comprises an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, the execution unit is configured to update the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information.

18. A method for conditionally executing at least one instruction, the method comprising:

inputting a conditional execution instruction and the at least one target instruction, wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the at least one target instruction, a specified register, and a specified condition within the specified register, and wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises pointer update information;

in the event the at least one target instruction comprises an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, updating the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information; and

saving a result of each of the at least one target instruction dependent upon the specified condition within the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the updating of the pointer comprises:

in the event the pointer update information specifies the pointer is to be updated unconditionally, updating the pointer independent of the specified condition.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the updating of the pointer comprises:

in the event the pointer update information specifies the pointer is to be updated dependent upon the specified condition, updating the pointer dependent upon the specified condition.

21. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instruction involving the pointer subject to update specifies the pointer is to be modified and stored in a register of the processor.

22. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the conditional execution instruction precedes the at least one target instruction in a software program.

23. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises a first field specifying the at least one target instruction, a second field specifying the register, and at least one bit position specifying the condition within the register.

24. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the inputting comprises:

fetching a conditional execution instruction and the at least one target instruction from a memory system, wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the at least one target instruction, a register, and a condition within the register, and wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises pointer update information.

25. A processor, comprising:

means for inputting a conditional execution instruction and at least one target instruction, wherein the conditional execution instruction specifies the at least one target instruction, a specified register, and a specified condition within the specified register, and wherein the conditional execution instruction comprises pointer update information;

means for, in the event the at least one target instruction comprises an instruction involving a pointer subject to update, updating the pointer dependent upon the pointer update information; and

means for saving a result of each of the at least one target instruction dependent upon the specified condition within the specified register during execution of the conditional execution instruction.